From geeksatlarge at yahoo.com Fri May 5 13:43:11 2006 From: geeksatlarge at yahoo.com (Ron Smith) Date: Fri, 5 May 2006 13:43:11 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie Message-ID: <20060505204312.27366.qmail@web38714.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Hi all, I need advice on my next move. I'm relatively new to Perl and programming in general but have written a few useful programs, over the past year or so, that actually have been used on the job. I'd like to make a career change to full-time programming but need advice on what areas I need to focus on in order to land an entry-level position. Mainly, I'd like to know what skill-level I should be at and what's usually expected by an employer. Working with web pages seems to be the most fun to me but I'll take on any project offered. Right now I'm in formal classes for Perl, Java, C/C++ and the rest. Also, I was wondering how critical a degree is for programming or is it possible to get started while you're working toward an AS/BS ...etc? Any and all input would be appreciated. Ron Smith geeksatlarge at yahoo.com From jjordan at perlreason.com Tue May 9 13:52:54 2006 From: jjordan at perlreason.com (Jeremiah M. Jordan) Date: Tue, 09 May 2006 13:52:54 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie In-Reply-To: <20060505204312.27366.qmail@web38714.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <20060505204312.27366.qmail@web38714.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1147207975.5742.34.camel@localhost> Hey Ron, Congrats on the move to Perl programmer! I personally have never regretted it, well maybe once in an all-night debugging session... But I digress. My first recommendation is that you make sure you have the fundamentals of Perl down. Make sure you know at least the Llama book (ISBN:0-596-10105-8 http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/learnperl4/) backwards and forwards. Get the Camel book (ISBN:0-596-00027-8) once you feel that you've outgrown the Llama. For a web programmer, a working knowledge of HTML, CSS and Javascript are a must. It wouldn't hurt to understand SQL and database design as well. I was about to suggest PHP, but then I remembered that I've never actually had to code PHP, since Perl can do everything it can and fix the kitchen sink too. Plus if you know the other things I've mentioned, grokking PHP enough to fix it will be easy. For general programming, you can't go wrong with "Code Complete" (ISBN:0-7356-1967-0), which should keep you pretty busy for a while. A good understanding of Object Oriented Programming/Design would also be useful, man perlboot & man perltoot to start, then get Damian Conway's "Object Oriented Perl" (ISBN:1-8847-7779-1) and then maybe grab "Design Patterns Explained" (ISBN:0-321-24714-0), although you might have to just browse around the web or talk to other gurus first. I mention mod_perl last, because honestly you don't need to be a mod_perl guru to get a job. If you at least know the basics of coding CGIs under the Apache::Registry, you'll do fine. In order to increase your skills, I would highly recommend that you create some kind of personal project that you develop on in whatever spare time you can devote to it. Something that interests you and that has parts that you can accomplish. This will not only give you valuable experience, but also give you *code that you can bring to an interview*. I have edged out other candidates for jobs because I had source code and/or a demo-able site that I could point to. A savvy tech manager will appreciate being able to actually look at your code to see what level you are at. To me, the most important thing for an entry-level programmer to have is the right attitude. She/he should be excited to learn new technologies, be willing to adopt different ways of thinking, and always be willing to ask questions. Hope that helps, --Jeremiah On Fri, 2006-05-05 at 13:43 -0700, Ron Smith wrote: > Hi all, > > I need advice on my next move. I'm relatively new to > Perl and programming in general but have written a > few useful programs, over the past year or so, that > actually have been used on the job. > > I'd like to make a career change to full-time > programming but need advice on what areas I need to > focus on in order to land an entry-level position. > Mainly, I'd like to know what skill-level I should be > at and what's usually expected by an employer. Working > with web pages seems to be the most fun to me but I'll > take on any project offered. > > Right now I'm in formal classes for Perl, Java, C/C++ > and the rest. Also, I was wondering how critical a > degree is for programming or is it possible to get > started while you're working toward an AS/BS ...etc? > > Any and all input would be appreciated. > > > Ron Smith > geeksatlarge at yahoo.com > _______________________________________________ > Losangeles-pm mailing list > Losangeles-pm at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/losangeles-pm From Todd.Cranston-Cuebas at Ticketmaster.com Wed May 10 13:27:03 2006 From: Todd.Cranston-Cuebas at Ticketmaster.com (Todd Cranston-Cuebas) Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 13:27:03 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie Message-ID: <71D28C8451BFD5119B2B00508BE26E640BDBAFB4@pasmail3.office.tmcs> As a recruiter who has specialized in perl people for many years, I agree with Jeremiah. It's always best to have the fundamentals down and perhaps of more importance is showing your own initiative. As noted, you can work on your own project, but I'd encourage you to consider making a contribution toward an existing open-source project. That gives you a bit more "scaffolding" (i.e., support) since you can ask questions from others already in the community of people supporting the overall effort. Also, you get the chance to network and learn from others. All are critical in your job search later. I would also suggest being a bit "flexible" in your first job. If for instance, you had the opportunity to support a larger development effort by providing application-level support (and coding monitoring type systems, etc.), it may be a good step toward learning what is necessary to enter the actual software development group. It would also give you that rarest of commodities... real world experience! Regards, Todd ________________________________ Todd Cranston-Cuebas Senior Technical Recruiter, Ticketmaster http://www.ticketmaster.com/ tcc at ticketmaster.com Phone: 310-360-2436 Mobile: 310-422-3347 > -----Original Message----- > From: losangeles-pm-bounces+tcc=ticketmaster.com at pm.org > [mailto:losangeles-pm-bounces+tcc=ticketmaster.com at pm.org] On > Behalf Of Jeremiah M. Jordan > Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 1:53 PM > To: Ron Smith > Cc: losangeles-pm at mail.pm.org > Subject: Re: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie > > Hey Ron, > > Congrats on the move to Perl programmer! I personally > have never regretted it, well maybe once in an all-night > debugging session... > But I digress. My first recommendation is that you make > sure you have the fundamentals of Perl down. Make sure you > know at least the Llama book (ISBN:0-596-10105-8 > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/learnperl4/) backwards and > forwards. Get the Camel book (ISBN:0-596-00027-8) once you > feel that you've outgrown the Llama. > For a web programmer, a working knowledge of HTML, CSS and > Javascript are a must. It wouldn't hurt to understand SQL > and database design as well. I was about to suggest PHP, but > then I remembered that I've never actually had to code PHP, > since Perl can do everything it can and fix the kitchen sink > too. Plus if you know the other things I've mentioned, > grokking PHP enough to fix it will be easy. > For general programming, you can't go wrong with "Code > Complete" (ISBN:0-7356-1967-0), which should keep you pretty > busy for a while. A good understanding of Object Oriented > Programming/Design would also be useful, man perlboot & man > perltoot to start, then get Damian Conway's "Object Oriented > Perl" (ISBN:1-8847-7779-1) and then maybe grab "Design > Patterns Explained" (ISBN:0-321-24714-0), although you might > have to just browse around the web or talk to other gurus first. > I mention mod_perl last, because honestly you don't need > to be a mod_perl guru to get a job. If you at least know the > basics of coding CGIs under the Apache::Registry, you'll do fine. > > In order to increase your skills, I would highly recommend > that you create some kind of personal project that you > develop on in whatever spare time you can devote to it. > Something that interests you and that has parts that you can > accomplish. This will not only give you valuable experience, > but also give you *code that you can bring to an interview*. > I have edged out other candidates for jobs because I had > source code and/or a demo-able site that I could point to. A > savvy tech manager will appreciate being able to actually > look at your code to see what level you are at. > > To me, the most important thing for an entry-level > programmer to have is the right attitude. She/he should be > excited to learn new technologies, be willing to adopt > different ways of thinking, and always be willing to ask questions. > > Hope that helps, > --Jeremiah > > On Fri, 2006-05-05 at 13:43 -0700, Ron Smith wrote: > > Hi all, > > > > I need advice on my next move. I'm relatively new to Perl and > > programming in general but have written a few useful > programs, over > > the past year or so, that actually have been used on the job. > > > > I'd like to make a career change to full-time programming but need > > advice on what areas I need to focus on in order to land an > > entry-level position. > > Mainly, I'd like to know what skill-level I should be at and what's > > usually expected by an employer. Working with web pages seems to be > > the most fun to me but I'll take on any project offered. > > > > Right now I'm in formal classes for Perl, Java, C/C++ and the rest. > > Also, I was wondering how critical a degree is for > programming or is > > it possible to get started while you're working toward an AS/BS > > ...etc? > > > > Any and all input would be appreciated. > > > > > > Ron Smith > > geeksatlarge at yahoo.com > > _______________________________________________ > > Losangeles-pm mailing list > > Losangeles-pm at pm.org > > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/losangeles-pm > _______________________________________________ > Losangeles-pm mailing list > Losangeles-pm at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/losangeles-pm > From RNathan at baxglobal.com Wed May 10 13:49:15 2006 From: RNathan at baxglobal.com (Ranga Nathan) Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 13:49:15 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie In-Reply-To: <20060505204312.27366.qmail@web38714.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Ron: When I started learning Perl, I was new not only to Perl but to Unix and Linux. Perl opened the gates to many technologies and taught me the importance of learning concepts rather than products. When I learned to do Perl CGI, I learnt HTTP protocol and MIME and then something else, one door led to another and so on. Some people are frustrated by the quest. To me the quest was more interesting than arriving somewhere. For fear of being at the receiving end of a RTFM, I immersed myself in documentation and there is plenty of it. For a start I would be active in mailing lists. I would contribute to projects, I would learn OO and Perl modules, pick up a number of Perl books from O'Reilly, in fact their Perl Bookshelf is an excellent resource and it is available on their Safari site too. By asking good questions (unlike some "I want a script. Give me one") as well as contribute answers. Fearlessly download and experiment with different modules. It is surprising how creative you can get when there is a free flow of information and software. BTW, dont miss the next YAPC, wherever that is. It is an excellent forum to learn and exchange knowledge. I was at YAPC 1999 and 19100 (yes, year 2000) . Oh what fun that was, being in the company of great Perl minds. Welcome aboard and enjoy! __________________________________________ Ranga Nathan / CSG Systems Programmer - Specialist; Technical Services; BAX Global Inc. Irvine-California Tel: 714-442-7591 Fax: 714-442-2840 Ron Smith Sent by: losangeles-pm-bounces+rnathan=baxglobal.com at pm.org 05/05/2006 01:43 PM To losangeles-pm at mail.pm.org cc Subject [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie Hi all, I need advice on my next move. I'm relatively new to Perl and programming in general but have written a few useful programs, over the past year or so, that actually have been used on the job. I'd like to make a career change to full-time programming but need advice on what areas I need to focus on in order to land an entry-level position. Mainly, I'd like to know what skill-level I should be at and what's usually expected by an employer. Working with web pages seems to be the most fun to me but I'll take on any project offered. Right now I'm in formal classes for Perl, Java, C/C++ and the rest. Also, I was wondering how critical a degree is for programming or is it possible to get started while you're working toward an AS/BS ...etc? Any and all input would be appreciated. Ron Smith geeksatlarge at yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Losangeles-pm mailing list Losangeles-pm at pm.org http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/losangeles-pm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.pm.org/pipermail/losangeles-pm/attachments/20060510/63d0ba68/attachment.html From ask at develooper.com Wed May 10 16:03:48 2006 From: ask at develooper.com (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Ask_Bj=F8rn_Hansen?=) Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 16:03:48 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie In-Reply-To: <20060505204312.27366.qmail@web38714.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <20060505204312.27366.qmail@web38714.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <0615C442-583A-4924-935A-DDB0CE204D33@develooper.com> On May 5, 2006, at 1:43 PM, Ron Smith wrote: > Right now I'm in formal classes for Perl, Java, C/C++ > and the rest. Also, I was wondering how critical a > degree is for programming or is it possible to get > started while you're working toward an AS/BS ...etc? Formal training might make it easier to get your very first job, but shortly after that it'll be less important... > Any and all input would be appreciated. Effective Perl Programming is the best book I know for learning the nuances of the "Perl dialect". http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0201419750/ - ask -- http://askask.com/ - http://develooper.com/ From dpisoni at shopzilla.com Wed May 10 21:15:36 2006 From: dpisoni at shopzilla.com (David Pisoni) Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 21:15:36 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On May 10, 2006, at 13.49, Ranga Nathan wrote: > For fear of being at the receiving end of a RTFM, I immersed myself > in documentation and there is plenty of it. I'll second Ranga's comment here, and add a corollary suggestion: get to know your way around the documentation. IMHO really knowing a technology is less about memorizing all the inputs and outputs (though that is very helpful for sure), and more about knowing where to find the answers to your questions quickly and efficiently. That will get you far more "learning leverage"> > BTW, dont miss the next YAPC, wherever that is. It is an excellent > forum to learn and exchange knowledge. I was at YAPC 1999 and > 19100 (yes, year 2000) . Oh what fun that was, being in the company > of great Perl minds. YAPC::NA is in Chicago this year, last week of June. It's not too late to register! Enjoy, David Pisoni Director, Site Infrastructure Shopzilla -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.pm.org/pipermail/losangeles-pm/attachments/20060510/da453781/attachment.html From joshua.mcadams at gmail.com Thu May 11 07:56:19 2006 From: joshua.mcadams at gmail.com (Joshua McAdams) Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 10:56:19 -0400 Subject: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <49d805d70605110756u3a3b94bp1546579c61d6c924@mail.gmail.com> > YAPC::NA is in Chicago this year, last week of June. > It's not too late to register! Indeed! Also, brian d foy will be instructing a two-day Learning Perl class after the conference on the 29th and 30th. http://www.yapcchicago.org/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5 From RNathan at baxglobal.com Thu May 11 11:41:47 2006 From: RNathan at baxglobal.com (Ranga Nathan) Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 11:41:47 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie In-Reply-To: Message-ID: __________________________________________ Ranga Nathan / CSG Systems Programmer - Specialist; Technical Services; BAX Global Inc. Irvine-California Tel: 714-442-7591 Fax: 714-442-2840 David Pisoni 05/10/2006 09:15 PM To Los Angeles Perl Mongers cc Ron Smith , Ranga Nathan Subject Re: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie On May 10, 2006, at 13.49, Ranga Nathan wrote: . IMHO really knowing a technology is less about memorizing all the inputs and outputs When someone asked Einstein for his phone number, he reached for the phone book. When asked how come he did not remember his phone number his answer was: "I dont need to remember. I know where it is". I keep an extensive list of bookmarks. (though that is very helpful for sure), and more about knowing where to find the answers to your questions quickly and efficiently. That will get you far more "learning leverage"> YAPC::NA is in Chicago this year, last week of June. < http://www.yapcchicago.org/> It's not too late to register! Too bad. My manager says that I can not do this as well as Linuxworld Expo in SF :-( Enjoy, David Pisoni Director, Site Infrastructure Shopzilla -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.pm.org/pipermail/losangeles-pm/attachments/20060511/e18b9ca9/attachment-0001.html From geeksatlarge at yahoo.com Thu May 11 12:45:17 2006 From: geeksatlarge at yahoo.com (Ron Smith) Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 12:45:17 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie In-Reply-To: <1147207975.5742.34.camel@localhost> Message-ID: <20060511194517.17601.qmail@web38707.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Jeremiah, I've already done some of the things you mentioned. I have the Llama book and have gone through the majority of the chapters there. I also have the Camel book and the Cookbook and found myself having to refer to all three from time to time. As for the other books you mentioned, I will definitely be looking into those. I've almost bought "Object Oriented Perl", by Conway, several times. I think the reason I didn't buy it was because I though it was over my head, at the time. I'll certainly give it a second. Another interesting thing you mention was setting up a site to demo my work. I've though about doing just that, lately. One of the issues I have regarding that is I would need to find an *inexpensive* host that supports mod_perl and the .NET technologies as well. If you, or anyone else, can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it. Todd, Where would I go to begin getting info on how to get involved with an open-source project? The thing I'm a little concerned with is, are my skills up to a level where I can make a meaningful contribution. Also, I don't have any problem starting at *any* capacity. In the past, on previous jobs, I've written short one-off programs to do specific things like locating different versions of the same file or tracking disk usage ...etc. Besides, things like that are fun to do, to me. Ranga, Thanks for the tip. I do need to explore the different modules available, so far I've just been sticking to the modules that come packed with Perl. Or, maybe I just haven't written anything that would require the addition of a module; it's probably the later. :) Bj?rn, I took a look at "Effective Perl Programming" from the link in your response and was impressed with the Table of Contents and the Index of the book. On that alone, I'll probably buy it. Thanks, for the pointer. David, What I've experienced, so far, is that I'm not particularly able to remember everything I've picked up, in the way of programming knowledge, so I remember where I *saw* the solution to a problem. Or, I'll retain the concept to the solution of a particular problem then look up the details. Does anyone else have that experience? Joshua, There seems to be a meeting of the minds on attending the YAPC conferences. It looks like it will be in Chicago this year. So, I won't be able to make it this time around, but I'll certainly keep them in mind. I have to say a word of thanks, to everyone that responded to my original post. I get such a kick out of using Perl that it has motivated me to pursue a new career path, and that's saying a lot. Ron Smith geeksatlarge at yahoo.com From cnk at caltech.edu Thu May 11 13:19:13 2006 From: cnk at caltech.edu (Cynthia Kiser) Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 13:19:13 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie In-Reply-To: <20060511194517.17601.qmail@web38707.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <1147207975.5742.34.camel@localhost> <20060511194517.17601.qmail@web38707.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <20060511201913.GA28349@clyde.caltech.edu> Quoting Ron Smith : > Where would I go to begin getting info on how to get > involved with an open-source project? The thing I'm a > little concerned with is, are my skills up to a level > where I can make a meaningful contribution. If you are not already familiar with some of the tools commonly used for open source, remote team development, you might want to check out the LinuxChix course that is running http://www.linuxchix.org/content/courses/tools/ (And before you ask, men are welcome on all the LinuxChix list except grrls-only and there are plenty of men on the courses and techtalk lists.) As for how to get involved when you are not sure you have the skills, one suggestion I have heard Dan Kagel make is to volunteer to triage bugs for the project of your choice. It gets you familiar with lots of aspects of the project and really helps the main developers focus on fixable bugs. The most valuable aspect seemed to be developing good test cases for the verified bugs. And once you are familiar with the code, you can start submitting patches along with your test cases. The code reviews of those patches will help you tighten up your idomatic Perl and move into full developer status. -- Cynthia Kiser cnk at caltech.edu From Todd.Cranston-Cuebas at Ticketmaster.com Thu May 11 15:11:53 2006 From: Todd.Cranston-Cuebas at Ticketmaster.com (Todd Cranston-Cuebas) Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 15:11:53 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] LA.pm Tech Talk - Tuesday, April 23th 2006 - PPI: Transforming Pe rl Message-ID: <71D28C8451BFD5119B2B00508BE26E640BDBAFF1@pasmail3.office.tmcs> Announcing this month's LA.pm Tech Talk! When: Tuesday, May 23, 2006, 7-9 p.m. Where: Ticketmaster's movie theater 8800 W. Sunset Blvd West Hollywood, CA 90069 PPI: Transforming Perl Guest Speaker: Jeffrey Goff Short description... Parsing Perl in a standalone module allows automated code visualization, refactoring and much more. This month's LA.pm Tech Talk will explore new ways to display and refactor perl code through the PPI module suite. Preview of next month... We're going to have a guest speaker coming all the way from Australia on his way to YAPC in Chicago. In an effort to avoid potential LA.pm member conflicts for those attending YAPC and also so we can have this guest speaker, I've moved next month's meeting to Thursday, June 22nd. Mark your calendars! Please click on the supplied link below to let us know if you're coming. As far as I know, you will _not_ be required to register with Evite if this is a concern. This will help me to get a better idea of the head count so PLEASE take the time to RVSP. The Evite invitation also has more information regarding parking, etc. http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/tcc at ticketmaster.com/lapmtech052306 Thank you! Todd Cranston-Cuebas -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.pm.org/pipermail/losangeles-pm/attachments/20060511/204f2965/attachment.html From geeksatlarge at yahoo.com Thu May 11 15:20:43 2006 From: geeksatlarge at yahoo.com (Ron Smith) Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 15:20:43 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie In-Reply-To: <20060511201913.GA28349@clyde.caltech.edu> Message-ID: <20060511222043.71520.qmail@web38714.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Cynthia, Thanks for the link. I'll be heading over there later this evening, to check things out. It Seems like I've got a full plate now; thanks to all the responses. :) Ron --- Cynthia Kiser wrote: > Quoting Ron Smith : > > Where would I go to begin getting info on how to > get > > involved with an open-source project? The thing > I'm a > > little concerned with is, are my skills up to a > level > > where I can make a meaningful contribution. > > If you are not already familiar with some of the > tools commonly used > for open source, remote team development, you might > want to check out > the LinuxChix course that is running > http://www.linuxchix.org/content/courses/tools/ (And > before you ask, > men are welcome on all the LinuxChix list except > grrls-only and there > are plenty of men on the courses and techtalk > lists.) > > As for how to get involved when you are not sure you > have the skills, > one suggestion I have heard Dan Kagel make is to > volunteer to triage > bugs for the project of your choice. It gets you > familiar with lots of > aspects of the project and really helps the main > developers focus on > fixable bugs. The most valuable aspect seemed to be > developing good > test cases for the verified bugs. And once you are > familiar with the > code, you can start submitting patches along with > your test cases. The > code reviews of those patches will help you tighten > up your idomatic > Perl and move into full developer status. > > -- > Cynthia Kiser > cnk at caltech.edu > From naterajj at gmail.com Thu May 11 15:32:37 2006 From: naterajj at gmail.com (Juan Jose Natera) Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 15:32:37 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie In-Reply-To: <20060511194517.17601.qmail@web38707.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <1147207975.5742.34.camel@localhost> <20060511194517.17601.qmail@web38707.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <349627440605111532q7511174ehb9c90f42b9a6203f@mail.gmail.com> Hi, > Where would I go to begin getting info on how to get > involved with an open-source project? The thing I'm a > little concerned with is, are my skills up to a level > where I can make a meaningful contribution. This is something I've been wanting to talk with LA.pm about, have you heard of the Phalanx Project? http://qa.perl.org/phalanx/ It's part of the Perl QA effort, it's a great way to contribute a bit to Perl and you don't have to be a wizard to help. Todd, would it be possible to get 10 minutes to talk about this in one of the upcoming meetings? Juan From Todd.Cranston-Cuebas at Ticketmaster.com Thu May 11 15:40:38 2006 From: Todd.Cranston-Cuebas at Ticketmaster.com (Todd Cranston-Cuebas) Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 15:40:38 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie Message-ID: <71D28C8451BFD5119B2B00508BE26E640BDBAFFA@pasmail3.office.tmcs> There are a lot of ways you can contribute. As noted previously, bug tracking, etc. is always there. Documentation or being the moderator on a mail list are other ways. Trust me, there are a few very notable people in the perl world who got very far this way. First, documentation is very low on the priority level for many engineers but in the process of getting it done, you're making a major contribution and learning a ton. Second, moderating a list means by definition you pretty much read _everything_ so you're learning. How do you do it? You find a project that is doing something you find very interesting. You contact the leaders of the project by email, etc. You volunteer! Todd > -----Original Message----- > From: losangeles-pm-bounces+tcc=ticketmaster.com at pm.org > [mailto:losangeles-pm-bounces+tcc=ticketmaster.com at pm.org] On > Behalf Of Ron Smith > Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 12:45 PM > To: losangeles-pm at mail.pm.org > Subject: Re: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie > > Jeremiah, > > I've already done some of the things you mentioned. I have > the Llama book and have gone through the majority of the > chapters there. I also have the Camel book and the Cookbook > and found myself having to refer to all three from time to > time. As for the other books you mentioned, I will definitely > be looking into those. > I've almost bought "Object Oriented Perl", by Conway, several > times. I think the reason I didn't buy it was because I > though it was over my head, at the time. > I'll certainly give it a second. > > Another interesting thing you mention was setting up a site > to demo my work. I've though about doing just that, lately. > One of the issues I have regarding that is I would need to > find an *inexpensive* host that supports mod_perl and the > .NET technologies as well. > If you, or anyone else, can point me in the right direction > I'd appreciate it. > > Todd, > > Where would I go to begin getting info on how to get involved > with an open-source project? The thing I'm a little concerned > with is, are my skills up to a level where I can make a > meaningful contribution. > > Also, I don't have any problem starting at *any* capacity. In > the past, on previous jobs, I've written short one-off > programs to do specific things like locating different > versions of the same file or tracking disk usage ...etc. > Besides, things like that are fun to do, to me. > > Ranga, > > Thanks for the tip. I do need to explore the different > modules available, so far I've just been sticking to the > modules that come packed with Perl. Or, maybe I just haven't > written anything that would require the addition of a module; > it's probably the later. :) > > > Bj?rn, > > I took a look at "Effective Perl Programming" from the link > in your response and was impressed with the Table of Contents > and the Index of the book. On that alone, I'll probably buy > it. Thanks, for the pointer. > > David, > > What I've experienced, so far, is that I'm not particularly > able to remember everything I've picked up, in the way of > programming knowledge, so I remember where I *saw* the > solution to a problem. Or, I'll retain the concept to the > solution of a particular problem then look up the details. > Does anyone else have that experience? > > Joshua, > > There seems to be a meeting of the minds on attending the > YAPC conferences. It looks like it will be in Chicago this > year. So, I won't be able to make it this time around, but > I'll certainly keep them in mind. > > I have to say a word of thanks, to everyone that responded to > my original post. I get such a kick out of using Perl that it > has motivated me to pursue a new career path, and that's saying a lot. > > > Ron Smith > geeksatlarge at yahoo.com > _______________________________________________ > Losangeles-pm mailing list > Losangeles-pm at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/losangeles-pm > From RNathan at baxglobal.com Sun May 14 20:11:15 2006 From: RNathan at baxglobal.com (Ranga Nathan) Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 20:11:15 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] A film on Perl Message-ID: A google search on Perl report facilities turned up this link! http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=284807 First time I am hearing a name Perl. __________________________________________ Ranga Nathan / CSG Systems Programmer - Specialist; Technical Services; BAX Global Inc. Irvine-California Tel: 714-442-7591 Fax: 714-442-2840 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.pm.org/pipermail/losangeles-pm/attachments/20060514/2b788292/attachment.html From Todd.Cranston-Cuebas at Ticketmaster.com Mon May 15 15:23:08 2006 From: Todd.Cranston-Cuebas at Ticketmaster.com (Todd Cranston-Cuebas) Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 15:23:08 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie Message-ID: <71D28C8451BFD5119B2B00508BE26E640BDBB047@pasmail3.office.tmcs> Definitely. I'll see if I can nail down someone involved and see if we can get a guest talk on this. Could be very interesting. Todd > -----Original Message----- > From: Juan Jose Natera [mailto:naterajj at gmail.com] > Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 3:33 PM > To: losangeles-pm at mail.pm.org > Cc: Todd Cranston-Cuebas > Subject: Re: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie > > Hi, > > > Where would I go to begin getting info on how to get > involved with an > > open-source project? The thing I'm a little concerned with > is, are my > > skills up to a level where I can make a meaningful contribution. > > This is something I've been wanting to talk with LA.pm about, > have you heard of the Phalanx Project? > > http://qa.perl.org/phalanx/ > > It's part of the Perl QA effort, it's a great way to > contribute a bit to Perl and you don't have to be a wizard to help. > > Todd, would it be possible to get 10 minutes to talk about > this in one of the upcoming meetings? > > Juan > From rspier at pobox.com Tue May 16 17:33:41 2006 From: rspier at pobox.com (Robert Spier) Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 17:33:41 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Are You Qualified to Teach Perl? References: <745DA880312FE64291A656A6069AF824BFA459@CALEXM01.corp.ad.diginsite.com> Message-ID: I recieved the attached unsolicited message this morning. I don't have time (or interest) to teach this class at this time, etc. If someone else is interested in this, please contact Christian directly. -R -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: "Christian Bryant" Subject: Are You Qualified to Teach Perl? Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 09:47:49 -0700 Size: 2183 Url: http://mail.pm.org/pipermail/losangeles-pm/attachments/20060516/42b26f90/attachment.mht From david at fetter.org Wed May 17 18:19:12 2006 From: david at fetter.org (David Fetter) Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 18:19:12 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Dinner? Message-ID: <20060518011912.GB986@fetter.org> Anybody up for food in Burbank? Cheers, D (oh, and hi, all :) -- David Fetter http://fetter.org/ phone: +1 415 235 3778 AIM: dfetter666 Skype: davidfetter Remember to vote! From rspier at pobox.com Wed May 17 21:47:42 2006 From: rspier at pobox.com (Robert Spier) Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 21:47:42 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Dinner? In-Reply-To: <20060518011912.GB986@fetter.org> References: <20060518011912.GB986@fetter.org> Message-ID: > Anybody up for food in Burbank? Hrm... maybe next week? Tuesday? From david at fetter.org Thu May 18 11:51:45 2006 From: david at fetter.org (David Fetter) Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 11:51:45 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Dinner? In-Reply-To: References: <20060518011912.GB986@fetter.org> Message-ID: <20060518185145.GC4952@fetter.org> On Wed, May 17, 2006 at 09:47:42PM -0700, Robert Spier wrote: > > Anybody up for food in Burbank? > > Hrm... maybe next week? Tuesday? Tuesday would work. What time's good? Per your suggestion, Fernando and Olive is an interesting hunk of downtown Burbank, in a shopping-mall-ish kind of way :) Cheers, D -- David Fetter http://fetter.org/ phone: +1 415 235 3778 AIM: dfetter666 Skype: davidfetter Remember to vote! From christopher.nielsen at gmail.com Thu May 18 20:08:47 2006 From: christopher.nielsen at gmail.com (Christopher Nielsen) Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 20:08:47 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Dinner? In-Reply-To: <20060518185145.GC4952@fetter.org> References: <20060518011912.GB986@fetter.org> <20060518185145.GC4952@fetter.org> Message-ID: Maybe sometime after 7? It takes some time to get from work downtown up to the Burb. -Chris -- christopher.nielsen at gmail.com http://placebase.com From drforr at pobox.com Sat May 20 10:26:07 2006 From: drforr at pobox.com (Jeffrey Goff) Date: Sat, 20 May 2006 10:26:07 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Dinner? In-Reply-To: <20060518185145.GC4952@fetter.org> References: <20060518011912.GB986@fetter.org> <20060518185145.GC4952@fetter.org> Message-ID: <0b77a399b4dfffda3932195140289ccc@pobox.com> Tuesday would be a good idea, but I hear there's a tech talk going on that same night :) (Todd's announcement had April in the title, but the talk's indeed this Tuesday) On May 18, 2006, at 11:51, David Fetter wrote: > On Wed, May 17, 2006 at 09:47:42PM -0700, Robert Spier wrote: >>> Anybody up for food in Burbank? >> >> Hrm... maybe next week? Tuesday? > > Tuesday would work. What time's good? > > Per your suggestion, Fernando and Olive is an interesting hunk of > downtown Burbank, in a shopping-mall-ish kind of way :) > > Cheers, > D > -- > David Fetter http://fetter.org/ > phone: +1 415 235 3778 AIM: dfetter666 > Skype: davidfetter > > Remember to vote! > _______________________________________________ > Losangeles-pm mailing list > Losangeles-pm at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/losangeles-pm > From rspier at pobox.com Sun May 21 11:17:45 2006 From: rspier at pobox.com (Robert Spier) Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 11:17:45 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Dinner? In-Reply-To: <0b77a399b4dfffda3932195140289ccc@pobox.com> References: <20060518011912.GB986@fetter.org> <20060518185145.GC4952@fetter.org> <0b77a399b4dfffda3932195140289ccc@pobox.com> Message-ID: Well then, that would be a stupid night to schedule something else. -R (who needs to start using a calendar again.) At Sat, 20 May 2006 10:26:07 -0700, Jeffrey Goff wrote: > > Tuesday would be a good idea, but I hear there's a tech talk going on > that same night :) (Todd's announcement had April in the title, but the > talk's indeed this Tuesday) > > On May 18, 2006, at 11:51, David Fetter wrote: > > > On Wed, May 17, 2006 at 09:47:42PM -0700, Robert Spier wrote: > >>> Anybody up for food in Burbank? > >> > >> Hrm... maybe next week? Tuesday? > > > > Tuesday would work. What time's good? > > > > Per your suggestion, Fernando and Olive is an interesting hunk of > > downtown Burbank, in a shopping-mall-ish kind of way :) > > > > Cheers, > > D > > -- > > David Fetter http://fetter.org/ > > phone: +1 415 235 3778 AIM: dfetter666 > > Skype: davidfetter > > > > Remember to vote! > > _______________________________________________ > > Losangeles-pm mailing list > > Losangeles-pm at pm.org > > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/losangeles-pm > > > > _______________________________________________ > Losangeles-pm mailing list > Losangeles-pm at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/losangeles-pm From dpisoni at shopzilla.com Sun May 21 19:49:54 2006 From: dpisoni at shopzilla.com (David Pisoni) Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 19:49:54 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Dinner? In-Reply-To: References: <20060518011912.GB986@fetter.org> <20060518185145.GC4952@fetter.org> <0b77a399b4dfffda3932195140289ccc@pobox.com> Message-ID: <7A23A115-F425-4923-BCB0-D9AA11690AD8@shopzilla.com> I hear google has a new one these days, perhaps you know something about it? (he asks, tongue nearly piercing his cheek...) On May 21, 2006, at 11.17, Robert Spier wrote: > > Well then, that would be a stupid night to schedule something else. > > -R (who needs to start using a calendar again.) > > At Sat, 20 May 2006 10:26:07 -0700, > Jeffrey Goff wrote: >> >> Tuesday would be a good idea, but I hear there's a tech talk going on >> that same night :) (Todd's announcement had April in the title, >> but the >> talk's indeed this Tuesday) >> >> On May 18, 2006, at 11:51, David Fetter wrote: >> >>> On Wed, May 17, 2006 at 09:47:42PM -0700, Robert Spier wrote: >>>>> Anybody up for food in Burbank? >>>> >>>> Hrm... maybe next week? Tuesday? >>> >>> Tuesday would work. What time's good? >>> >>> Per your suggestion, Fernando and Olive is an interesting hunk of >>> downtown Burbank, in a shopping-mall-ish kind of way :) >>> >>> Cheers, >>> D >>> -- >>> David Fetter http://fetter.org/ >>> phone: +1 415 235 3778 AIM: dfetter666 >>> Skype: davidfetter >>> >>> Remember to vote! >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Losangeles-pm mailing list >>> Losangeles-pm at pm.org >>> http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/losangeles-pm >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Losangeles-pm mailing list >> Losangeles-pm at pm.org >> http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/losangeles-pm > _______________________________________________ > Losangeles-pm mailing list > Losangeles-pm at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/losangeles-pm From Todd.Cranston-Cuebas at Ticketmaster.com Mon May 22 14:07:55 2006 From: Todd.Cranston-Cuebas at Ticketmaster.com (Todd Cranston-Cuebas) Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 14:07:55 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] LA.pm Tech Talk - Tuesday, May 23th 2006 - PPI: Transforming Perl - DATE FIXED Message-ID: <71D28C8451BFD5119B2B00508BE26E640BDBB116@pasmail3.office.tmcs> Announcing this month's LA.pm Tech Talk! When: Tuesday, May 23, 2006, 7-9 p.m. Where: Ticketmaster's movie theater 8800 W. Sunset Blvd West Hollywood, CA 90069 PPI: Transforming Perl Guest Speaker: Jeffrey Goff Short Description... Parsing Perl in a standalone module allows automated code visualization, refactoring and much more. This month's LA.pm Tech Talk will explore new ways to display and refactor perl code through the PPI module suite. Preview of next month... We're going to have a guest speaker coming all the way from Australia on his way to YAPC in Chicago. In an effort to avoid potential LA.pm member conflicts for those attending YAPC and also so we can have this guest speaker, I've moved next month's meeting to Thursday, June 22nd. Mark your calendars! Please click on the supplied link below to let us know if you're coming. As far as I know, you will _not_ be required to register with Evite if this is a concern. This will help me to get a better idea of the head count so PLEASE take the time to RVSP. The Evite invitation also has more information regarding parking, etc. http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/tcc at ticketmaster.com/lapmtech052306 Thank you! Todd Cranston-Cuebas -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.pm.org/pipermail/losangeles-pm/attachments/20060522/817f3ada/attachment.html From Todd.Cranston-Cuebas at Ticketmaster.com Mon May 22 15:14:38 2006 From: Todd.Cranston-Cuebas at Ticketmaster.com (Todd Cranston-Cuebas) Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 15:14:38 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Tech Talk Tomorrow Night! Message-ID: <71D28C8451BFD5119B2B00508BE26E640BDBB117@pasmail3.office.tmcs> Sorry if I caused any confusion, but the Tech Talk is tomorrow night (Tuesday, MAY 23)! Same bat place, same bat channel. Regards, Todd _____ Todd Cranston-Cuebas Senior Technical Recruiter, Ticketmaster http://www.ticketmaster.com tcc at ticketmaster.com Phone: 310-360-2436 Mobile: 310-422-3347 http://www.linkedin.com/in/geekhunter Join the Ticketmaster job network! Your dream job is a click away... >>>>>> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.pm.org/pipermail/losangeles-pm/attachments/20060522/55b5320f/attachment.html From Todd.Cranston-Cuebas at Ticketmaster.com Tue May 23 15:04:59 2006 From: Todd.Cranston-Cuebas at Ticketmaster.com (Todd Cranston-Cuebas) Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 15:04:59 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Reminder LA.pm Tech Talk - tonight! - PPI: Transforming Perl Message-ID: <71D28C8451BFD5119B2B00508BE26E640BDBB154@pasmail3.office.tmcs> Reminder for tonights LA-PM Tech Talk. Remember to RSVP if you're going. Todd Announcing this month's LA.pm Tech Talk! When: Tuesday, May 23, 2006, 7-9 p.m. Where: Ticketmaster's movie theater 8800 W. Sunset Blvd West Hollywood, CA 90069 PPI: Transforming Perl Guest Speaker: Jeffrey Goff Short description... Parsing Perl in a standalone module allows automated code visualization, refactoring and much more. This month's LA.pm Tech Talk will explore new ways to display and refactor perl code through the PPI module suite. Preview of next month... We're going to have a guest speaker coming all the way from Australia on his way to YAPC in Chicago. In an effort to avoid potential LA.pm member conflicts for those attending YAPC and also so we can have this guest speaker, I've moved next month's meeting to Thursday, June 22nd. Mark your calendars! Please click on the supplied link below to let us know if you're coming. As far as I know, you will _not_ be required to register with Evite if this is a concern. This will help me to get a better idea of the head count so PLEASE take the time to RVSP. The Evite invitation also has more information regarding parking, etc. http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/tcc at ticketmaster.com/lapmtech052306 Thank you! Todd Cranston-Cuebas -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.pm.org/pipermail/losangeles-pm/attachments/20060523/5d899ef2/attachment.html From joshua.mcadams at gmail.com Wed May 31 21:11:05 2006 From: joshua.mcadams at gmail.com (Joshua McAdams) Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 23:11:05 -0500 Subject: [LA.pm] YAPC::NA Message-ID: <49d805d70605312111r364c211cg60d5aabd0e050efb@mail.gmail.com> Hi there fellow Perl Mongers. I'm writing to remind you all that YAPC::NA is only a few weeks away. The conference will be held in Chicago June 26th through 28th and will feature four simultaneous sessions of Perl talks for three days in addition to a job fair, banquet, and auction. After the conference Damian Conway, Randal Schwartz, and brian d foy will be sticking around and conducting professional training classes and extremely reduced prices. This email is a little spammy (sorry about that), but I just wanted to remind you all about the conference and also ask for your help in promoting it so that we can fill up the few spots that are remaining. For more information check out http://www.yapcchicago.org. We invite you to put up posters: http://yapcchicago.org/yapc_poster.pdf http://yapcchicago.org/yapc_poster_white.pdf Or maybe a web banner: http://www.yapcchicago.org/yapc_banner_wide.jpg http://www.yapcchicago.org/yapc_banner_narrow.jpg Thank you for your help in making YAPC a success once again, Josh McAdams